​​​      On September 29, 1784 a warrant was issued to a group of Negro Masons in Boston, Massachusetts by the Grand Lodge of England under then Grand Master, his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland.  The warrant was granted to African Lodge No. 459 (later renumbered to No.370) which was formerly organized in Boston under this Charter with Prince Hall as Worshipful Master.  This warrant is still in existence today in a safety deposit vault in the city of Boston attesting to the undisputable legitimacy of Prince Hall Freemasonry and from it derives the all authentic Grand Lodges of Prince Hall jurisdictions.​

​

    The Prince Hall African Grand Lodge was organized in 1791 and in 1797 established two additional lodges, African Lodge No.2 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Hiram Lodge No. 3 of Providence, Rhode Island.  Formation of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge ​in 1815 was followed by the Grand Lodges of New York and Maryland in 1845, the District of Columbia and New Jersey in 1848, Ohio and Delaware in 1849.  The first three lodges in Ohio which organized the Grand Lodge were Corinthian No.1, True American No. 2, and St. John No. 3, all in Cincinnati.  In 1864 Ambush Lodge No. 4 was warranted in Toledo, in 1880 the name was changed to Amazon.  a new Lodged was chartered  in 1884 under the name of Euclid Lodge No. 5, but in 1900 the Lodges united to form our present Amazon Lodge No. 4.​
​

​

    The early years of Amazon Lodge were fraught with all the vicissitudes of new and unfamiliar organization, trial and error of changing personnel officers, inadequate meeting places, etc.  In 1990, after the consolidation, Lodge rooms were rented on the second floor of a building located on Superior Street near Adams Street and later moved to the Elks Hall on Erie Street between Washington and Monroe Streets until the purchase of their own property at City Park and Pinewood Avenues.  This property was relinquished and the Lodge met at the Prince Hall building on Nebraska Avenue.  The Lodge met at the J.B. Simmons building on Indiana Avenue until 1996 when our present location, on 638 N. University Street, was purchased.

​

    During its 149 year history, Amazon Lodge No. 4 has been host to the Grand Lodge of Ohio a number of times and from its ranks have come 4 elected Grand Master, William E. Clemons (1902-1909), Everett Gatliff (1930-1934), Lloyd H. Kimbrough (1947-1949), and Rev James S. Willis, Sr (2006-2009).  Another Grand Master from Toledo's other Prince Hall Lodge, Composite Lodge No. 108,  was James B. Simmons Jr. (1955-1957).  All the rights, benefits, and title of Honorary Past Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio  have been accorded to Past Master Harry E. Smith in 1981 (Amazon Lodge No. 4), Past Master Clarence J. Walker in 2009(Amazon Lodge No. 4), and Past Master Wilbert West in 1992 (Composite Lodge No. 108).​

 

    From Amazon Lodge have come many active leaders in Toledo's religious and civic life and also the appendant Masonic orders of Capitular Royal Arch Masons, Cryptic Royal and Select Masters, Chivalric Knight Templar, Scottish Rite, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and Order of Eastern Stars.

 

​

​

​​